After the second rest day, a flat stage to the monastery of La Rábida, where Columbus once prepared his voyage.
Rolling terrain in the first half gives way to a flat run-in to La Rábida, the monastery where Christopher Columbus prepared his 1492 voyage to America.
The nearby Atlantic coast can bring stiff crosswinds in the closing kilometres — a warning for GC riders who aren't near the front if the peloton splits into echelons.
Extreme heat forecast at 46°C forced organisers to cut stage 15 from 189.7 to 110.2 kilometres shortly before the start, scrapping only the Villaviciosa climb. Andreas Leknessund broke clear of an early 11-man move, only for Ramses Debruyne to bridge across from the shrinking peloton and win the intermediate sprint; Wout van Aert, fourth there, refused to sit up and rode himself across to the two leaders, with Alessandro Romele and Thibau Nys following on his wheel. In Córdoba, Van Aert won the five-man sprint ahead of Romele and Nys — his second win in three days and Visma-Lease a Bike's fifth stage victory of this Vuelta. Alessandro Covi was the best of the chasers, 58 seconds back, while the peloton containing all the GC favourites, Enric Mas included, rolled in together at 2:30 — leaving the top of the standings completely unchanged. The full story of stage 15, the general classification after fifteen stages, and a look ahead to the second rest day.
Crosswinds were forecast for the final eleven kilometres along the Atlantic coast, but the wind never got strong enough to force a split. A five-man breakaway — Kevin Vermaerke, Valentin Madouas, Simon Dalby, Jasha Sütterlin and Roland Thalmann — never gained more than 1:25 and was reeled in by Visma-Lease a Bike well before the coast. In the sprint, Wout van Aert delivered teammate Matthew Brennan to victory, with daylight to spare over Bryan Coquard and Vito Braet. It's Brennan's fourth stage win of this Vuelta, following Manosque, Roquetes and Lorca — making him the first rider to win four stages on a Grand Tour debut since Fernando Gaviria at the 2017 Giro d'Italia. Enric Mas keeps his red-jersey lead intact, while Brennan cuts a serious chunk out of Van Aert's advantage in the points classification. The full story of stage 16, the general classification after sixteen stages, and a look ahead to this Vuelta's flattest stage into Seville.